Beckman Coulter and ThermoQuest Announce Collaborative Agreement.

Business Editors and Health/Medical Writers

FULLERTON, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--March 14, 2000

Beckman Coulter Inc. (NYSE:BEC) and ThermoQuest Corp. (AMEX:TMQ) Tuesday announced a collaborative agreement to jointly market and support a hyphenated capillary electrophoresis (CE) mass spectrometry (MS/MS) system for the analysis of basic pharmaceuticals and the characterization of peptide digests.

The new CE-MS/MS system will resolve integration challenges for customers desiring to use the two technologies together seamlessly, and will expand the potential applications for each company's product.

"This collaboration provides technological leadership in both capillary electrophoresis and mass spectrometry," explained Jack Finney, vice president, Bioresearch Division, for Beckman Coulter. "The combination delivers a powerful tool for the analysis of pharmaceuticals and biomolecules and enhances our position in the field of proteomics."

"It was clear that the combination of our two technologies provides the best CE-MS/MS solution," commented Dr. Richard W.K. Chapman, president and chief executive officer for ThermoQuest. "Under this agreement, we synchronized the systems and communications links, and then developed comprehensive procedures to coordinate sales, service and customer support. It will all enable our customers to apply these technologies together."

The new P/ACE(TM) MDQ -- Finnigan LCQ(TM)(1) DUO was previewed in February at HPCE 2000 in Saarbrucken, Germany. It integrates the P/ACE MDQ CE System with the Finnigan LCQ DUO to provide the separation advantages of CE with versatile mass spectrometry detection. The integrated system is controlled by ThermoQuest's Xcalibur(TM) Windows(1)-NT based software.

Beckman Coulter is a leading provider of instrument systems and complementary products that simplify and automate processes in life science and clinical laboratories. The company's products are used throughout the world in all phases of the battle against disease, from pioneering medical research and drug discovery to diagnostic testing that aids in patient treatment. Annual sales for the company totaled $1.8 billion in 1999, with nearly half of this amount generated outside the United States. The company's Web site address is www.beckmancoulter.com.

ThermoQuest is a company led by scientists working to support laboratory professionals with the most reliable products and services available. ThermoQuest's product offerings include mass spectrometers, liquid chromatographs, gas chromatographs and hyphenated multi- instrument combinations of these products, as well as a complete range of advanced software solutions. In addition, the company is a leading supplier of scientific equipment for the preparation, preservation and processing of chemical and biological samples, and it develops and distributes consumable supplies for the chromatography industry. ThermoQuest is a public subsidiary of Thermo Instrument Systems Inc., a Thermo Electron Company.

(1) Windows NT is a trademark of Microsoft Corp.